Category Archives: Freedom of Expression
Je Suis Charlie
How Can Sidewalk Chalk Art Be Illegal?
I took this today in downtown Los Angeles' Pershing Square where Occupy protesters intend to make more chalk art tonight. Last month protesters were attacked by police in riot gear simply because they were drawing on sidewalks. Apparently the legal scholars at the LAPD think the use of children's chalks made by Crayola is illegal when an adult is doing the drawing. As protests go it seems to me that chalking is one of the less obnoxious. I have read that courts nationwide are dismissing these chalking cases. Prosecutors in LA have refused to press charges against those recently arrested by our inexplicably cranky police.
It's really okay, officer! Seriously. Just enjoy all the pretty pictures and move along. It all washes off in the rain.
Police in Anaheim California Attack Children at Protest
People gathered to protest suspicious shootings by the Anaheim, California police and were brutally attacked by police wielding non-lethal weapons which included a dog being sent in at children. There simply comes an obvious time in the life of a civilized nation when the people must stand back and take a very good look at the savages that have been allowed to overrun police departments.
Egyptian Cartoonist George Bahgoury Discusses Creative Life
Egyptian cartoonist George Bahgoury discusses the problems with being creative in Egypt where a nation seems to want to propel itself into the past by treating religion as if it is something new and by restricting women and beauty itself. I like the way this man talks.
Worldwide Protest as U.S. Government Threatens to Censor Internet
Today Candlelight Stories joins with other sites to protest two proposed laws in the United States, called SOPA and the PROTECT IP Act. On January 24th, the U.S. Senate will vote on the PROTECT IP Act to censor the Internet, despite opposition from the vast majority of Americans. These laws give corporations the ability to sue any web site they feel threatens their copyrights in some way. They could essentially shut down any site simply by pointing a finger. So corporations would use this power to harm smaller competitors. The U.S. government could shut down any site or blog it had the slightest problem with. Censorship as practiced in places like China would suddenly become the norm here in the United States. China is a nightmare. We don’t want to do things like they do.
A free, open, uncensored Internet is a basic and fundamental right that must be preserved here in the United States if it is to have any chance at all on a worldwide basis.
Join us to protect our rights to free speech, privacy, and prosperity.
Here’s a massive list at the Center For Democracy & Technology of organizations, companies, web sites, blogs and individuals who are opposed to the censorship bills.
At the links below you can send your protest to Congress and learn much more about these bills and how they seek to end the open Internet.
Take action by contacting Congress via the Electronic Frontier Foundation.